Fortune Teller - THE THROB (1966) - Pop Archives - Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s

THE THROB
Fortune Teller
(Naomi Neville [Allen Toussaint])
Australia 1966
#6 Sydney #2 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #4 Adelaide #2 Perth

Single on Parlophone (Australia) for Albert Productions, Sydney.

Co-charted in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth with the Rolling Stones' version.

Sydney's Throb were a garage-style R&B band with a wilder image than their contemporaries and label-mates The Easybeats.

The Throb's history went back to Geoff Doyle & The Resonettes, yet another Aussie band that started out playing surf or Shadows-style instrumentals. The Resonettes recorded instrumentals for the Linda Lee label, then released two singles for Polydor as The No Names before signing with Albert Productions and becoming The Throb.

Like fellow Albert artists The Easybeats, The Throb's members included Dutch and British immigrants. John Bell, who joined in May 1965, had known Harry Vanda and George Young in Villawood Migrant Hostel.

The Throb’s producer reportedly played the Rolling Stones’ version of Fortune Teller repeatedly to them in the studio.

See also The Throb's follow-up single Black.

References: 1. Ian McFarlane - Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop.
2. Milesago's Throb page.
Further reading: 1. The Throb by Ian D. Marks, one of the Wild About You chapters. 2. Albert Productions history at Milesago. 3. Albert Productions history at AlbertMusic.com.

THE WHO
Fortune Teller
(Naomi Neville [Allen Toussaint])
UK 1968

Fortune Teller was 'a staple of The Who's live act between 1968 and 1970' (discography at TheWho.net). A studio version, recorded in 1968, was unreleased at the time but appeared on the box set Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (1994).

THE ROLLING STONES
Fortune Teller
(Naomi Neville [Allen Toussaint])
UK 1965
Influential version
#4 Sydney #2 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #2 Perth

This 1963 recording was not released as a single in the UK.

Double-sided hit in Sydney with Sad Day.

THE MERSEYBEATS
Fortune Teller
(Naomi Neville [Allen Toussaint])
UK 1963

B-side of the first single, on Fontana, by Liverpool band formed 1961 as The Mavericks, later The Pacifics. The A-side, It's Love That Really Counts, was a minor UK hit, but their biggest hit was the follow-up, I Think Of You (1964, #5 UK).

See also Funny Face by Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs.

As The Merseys, two founding members of The Merseybeats had a #4 UK hit with Sorrow (1966), originally a 1965 B-side by The McCoys and famously remade by David Bowie on Pin-ups (1973).

Reference: 1. Merseybeats at British Beat Boom. 2. Merseybeats - Fortune Teller at PopMusicInfo.com.
Version alert from Terry Stacey.

BENNY SPELLMAN
Fortune Teller
(Naomi Neville [Allen Toussaint])
USA 1961
Original version

Single on Atlantic, B-side of Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette), by Florida-born singer (b.1931) who recorded in New Orleans with legendary producer Allen Toussaint, composer of both sides of this single.

Spellman is also heard singing the bass line on Ernie K-Doe's Mother-in-Law.

See also I Feel Good, another Spellman recording of a Toussaint composition, remade in Australia by Greg Anderson.

Reference: ER2
Further reading: 1. Allen Toussaint at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and at All Music Guide. 2. The Artwoods Meet Solomon Burke & Benny Spellman at Funky16Corners.

BOBBY CURTOLA
Fortune Teller
(Basil & Dyer Hurdon)
Canada 1962
Red herring
#5 Canada #41 USA

Same title but not the same song as 'Fortune Teller' by The Throb.

This was #21 on the Top 100 for 1962 at Toronto radio station CHUM. Written by Bobby Curtola's managers and songwriters Basil & Dyer Hurdon.

Further reading: Bobby Curtola, 'Canada's Rock Legend', has a dazzling and informative site at www.curtola.com, which includes the full story of his early career in rock'n'roll.

Thanks to Neville Limpus for the Red Herring alert.

Later versions: